Critic's 10 Latest

A small-time telemarketing hustler (Vaughn) gets an opportunity to play with the big boys of the phone scam industry and doesn't take long to prove himself among the best. He also starts nailing the boss' partner (Ormond) and ultimately, finds himself confused about his place in life.

IS IT A GOOD MOVIE?

One of the worst movies that I've seen in quite some time, this film manages to hit a trifecta in bad moviemaking with a boring plot, inane motivations and one of the most obvious so-called "scams" that you've ever seen in any film. Pooh on Ed Harris for taking a role in a movie that literally steals the most basic ideas from another greater film in which he starred (and rocked!) called GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and turning them into mush. Here's a movie which spends the first half hour introducing us to characters who we don't encounter anytime after that. Here's a film that is supposed to be about scam, but the conclusion is written on the wall so big, that only the moronic, supposedly "sharp" characters in the film don't pick up on it. C'mon!! Vince Vaughn is the only thing that saves this piece of crap from being a complete waste of time, and a brief side shot of Julia Ormond's tit (looking hot, I might add) as well.

I have no idea why this movie was made because it wasn't interesting, it didn't bring anything new to the genre (watch BOILER ROOM and be prepared to see some real scams and engaging plot twists) and it featured some of the most annoying and uninteresting secondary characters that I have seen in any movie (including made-for-TV scrap like this) for some time. Can someone please explain why Vaughn's character was being so nice to his asshole buddy of his throughout the entire movie? The guy was treating him like a jerk and Vaughn kept being so overly helpful to the guy. Why? Does the film explain this to us? Nope. In fact, it ends on such a lame and predictable note, that I just wanted to call Vaughn's agent and ask him to reconsider putting his client in films that don't have any point, tension or originality from here on in. The man deserves much better than this 90 minute movie (45 minutes of which was complete nonsense....or was it just a pilot for a stupid TV show drama?) and so does Ed Harris. "What's my name?? Fuck you...that's my name!!"

THE EXTRAS

Dick all. This disc's as clean as a baby's ass...well, at least after it's wiped down, baby-powdered and wrapped up neatly. The menu featuring interchanging clips from the film, actually making it look like it's exciting or something. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't. It's also obvious that New Line Cinema, the company distributing this baby, didn't believe much in the film since they dumped it into the market with nothing on the DVD...not even a trailer!

FINAL DIAGNOSIS

What can I say that I haven't said already. This movie is boring, unoriginal, doesn't have any interesting twists, and its DVD is about as empty as this site's cash account. I'm not entirely sure why others seemed to have enjoyed this movie, but I could not have been much less entertained than with this film. Rent any of the aforementioned movies in its place and thank me in the morning...and Vaughn....I forgive you buddy, but a few more stinkers like this and we'll all be looking forward to SWINGERS II for your comeback.